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Re:Iranian attack drone found to contain parts from more tha... by mannerheim on Thursday January 05, 2023 @10:49AM (#34261402)
Apparently valuable enough to do a prisoner exchange for.

I also doubt the quality of the optics in Russian satellites.

Re:Iranian attack drone found to contain parts from more tha... by bbbbb5 on Thursday January 05, 2023 @11:13AM (#34261954)
>Apparently valuable enough to do a prisoner exchange for.

You don't do prisoner exchanges because of the valuable contributions of that agent, you do prisoner exchanges to ensure future contributions by other agents.

>I also doubt the quality of the optics in Russian satellites.

They're just fine. What kind of quality do you think they need to hit a power plant with a missile? Most of their missiles aren't that precise anyway.

There's only an extremely limited set of circumstances where drone footage of power infrastructure could be useful.

Re:Iranian attack drone found to contain parts from more tha... by mannerheim on Thursday January 05, 2023 @11:27AM (#34262215)
In any event, Russia does send spies to do precisely what you insisted they don't.
Re:Iranian attack drone found to contain parts from more tha... by bbbbb5 on Thursday January 05, 2023 @12:01PM (#34262824)
Your article says nothing about the nature of the surveillance. It does not in any way dispute my previous comments.
Re:Iranian attack drone found to contain parts from more tha... by ithkuil on Thursday January 05, 2023 @11:13AM (#34261947)
Nepotism can provide an alternative explanation for prisoner exchange even if the actual task was literally busywork
Re:Iranian attack drone found to contain parts from more tha... by bbbbb5 on Thursday January 05, 2023 @11:18AM (#34262051)
If it was about nepotism, we'd presumably be talking about an officer and not an agent.
Re:Iranian attack drone found to contain parts from more tha... by denton-scratch on Thursday January 05, 2023 @11:47AM (#34262595)
> I also doubt the quality of the optics in Russian satellites.

Doesn't Leica have a reputation for world-beating optics?

Re:Iranian attack drone found to contain parts from more tha... by LarryMullins on Thursday January 05, 2023 @11:50AM (#34262637)
> I also doubt the quality of the optics in Russian satellites.

Uh, why? I can understand doubting the electronics in their satellites, but the mirrors? Why do you think Russia can't polish mirrors?

Re:Iranian attack drone found to contain parts from more tha... by mannerheim on Thursday January 05, 2023 @12:42PM (#34263513)
The US is so tight-lipped about its spy satellites, even the resolution of their images are classified, and it forces US commercial satellite operators to degrade image resolution as well. Maybe I'm wrong, but if it were trivial to do, then someone should launch a satellite imaging startup outside of US jurisdiction.
Re:Iranian attack drone found to contain parts from more tha... by LarryMullins on Thursday January 05, 2023 @01:03PM (#34263829)
> even the resolution of their images are classified

Yeah, but physics isn't. Good resolution requires large mirrors. Large mirrors require large satellites. These aren't cubesats we're talking about; optical American spy satellites have 2.4 meter wide mirrors and are more than 10 meters long. The only non-US/Chinese/Russian rocket that can launch such a satellite in principle is the Ariane 5, but AFAIK they don't fly that to polar orbits.

In any case, not many people have the equipment laying around to make such large mirrors, or the expertise, or a stockpile of such mirrors. Russia likely has all three, or certainly once did.